Fire-door.



T. E. COLLINS. FIRE DOOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV- 26, 1 915.

1,237,300. Patented Aug. 21,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

T. E. COLLINS.

FIRE DOOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV- 25. |9l5- Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 3 i know et THOMAS-E- QLL r a, eitizen 01 the .United states, residingat Ohicege, in the: county, ofCook and State f Qi rh invent lfle c r ainnew d s f Imp men Fir s-Deere o c the following is ful1, ele2t1 cenise,and

eX e pti n) eferenceb i g l t0 th i hi sp c fice n 1,. I

1 My invention relates ste fihe do ershnd more particularly to springmeans fprstarting the rolling shutters 1? fire (19ers and I h ve ancetherolling shutters by means of coiled ac mpa y n drawings, :ferm ng weeo springs heldv'within the drums of the shut- 1914, in w hieh a, eightedbar is dropped 7 ters it is not practically possible A to 00111- pleelybe nceth t io f e Spri g a d th pul ef he shutt r. a al imeeel houeit is possible to counterbalance the curtain yer most of the tangent itsmovement. -Hewever; l-find that for thetep (p letter of prings will .bestro ger than the shutter and this tendency ise nost nairkedlyexh bitedwhen theshuttel is eempletely rolled up. I heveelso fennd thetdnring thelast qhenter pi its movement the tension 1 the spring again tends tobecome greeter e T a i $0 5M3 ee m e fli h evy pet th eebrel par Of i so m n nd t e e o? am t om P ts; J i

iD ue tethese eh meteristies of a rolling shutter which is springbalanced, the prior generally found itnecesseiy to employ some means tostart the shntter from it P tion ofr t e flle ten e 9f thcounterbelancingspring is stronger thanthe n11 f theshnttenin'thispositien and it s necessary t0 start the cuigtein dewnvafter iwhiehiit ,continuesteelese egmpletely. Qne Of the i-deviees tewhich} I might call attention structure shown aiidf deserihed in theegpendingf application ofiBsrry ,& e CQL' h d let et emitii ei to bel Ithe distance "that the shutter moves the 1 1,18 shutter;

Fig '2, employing a different an'toin atic reh shutt and npper deer sill5.

i Patented Ang.21,;1917. em lieetimnfil liwemlm 2.6; 91 5-serialnoifimafi. i U;

she'r t distance, tendingte sidthe A a start from its position of rest;In ether devices, of the prior art, the curis held up; by spring ,teIliO Q yx #weights en a toma ica y re eased from the spring pr Weight byfusible linker the like. I "have found that these devices j sresuch asare not relisble and often fail to operate due to the tendency to rustfest Q1 d ne t9 the stiffness they possess (after 11emeining quiet for alength of time. This .stlfi'ness 0r rusting prevents starting eftheshutter and censequent failure of operation.

In the eceompenying drawings which term a part of vthe presentspecificatien, I have illustrated a manner in which Yention may be practi ed.

,I shall describe later.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional yiewlpfia" dooriem and spr b ene s t endutqm eticallyreleasable means fonreleesir g j F g 3 ,li t ew s ,1 shtter ef the type disclosed inthe ep'plicw t QI VQ ZLI Y 8E. o ns as a ovm tiee a 1Fjgn4 's ashutte of the type shetvn in e n mews; i F1gs5 1s anend iew w th apart broken ng he sprin s;

Figure 1 is a fliegmentery frentelei stien showing th 'tep sill o doemerlw ing th sp ing d m nd g ewys o e 715 n shutte app i d t ere o, an"p e' T I entemstic ,7 f

e .1 I. 3 show-mg also e manner ,of applying the n sprin art g m ans; v

'ewey she wingv a diffenent manner of lnount- Fig. (Us a fragmentaryperspgeetivewietv f e d ifierent type 0f spring, es eppliedto Fig. 7 isefront elevation ef the doer shown in ]-Fig.' 5.

The flexible shutter l v iseorhposed gef e i number ofinetallicistripsor lathe hinged 3 together and Wound 1 upon a cent fel,drum 2.

This drnmlis meunted in' suitzthle brackets P f rab y e ur d to th Fig.1, this channel beingarranged .telpi e 3 into the frame the doo hpfltoen [3,14, Whieh are secured to the Well ofthe I ,hnihiing,imnediatelylabove the top ofthe -doQ 0p ni-I g an gage the-lintel 5. or asuitable stationary part, when the curtain 1 is completely rolled up. Acooperating angle-bar is secured opposite the channel 6 and providessuitable at;

taching means for handles or the like. The

the'flange or channel 6 when the curtain is rolled up. The ends of thespring leaves 14:

and'15 are slottedand are secured together by suitable bolts or rivets16.

ticular form of spring is advantageous in this connection in that it may"be pressed quite flat without injury to the leaves This parthereof. Itis further to be noted that the resi'stanceof the spring increasesgreatly as the same is flattened out. Thisis of particular advantage asit is required that the spring give a very marked downward push when thecurtain is completely rolled up but that its action diminish quiterapidly after the curtain is started.

The curtain, shown 1n Figs. 1 and 2, 1s not completely counterbalanced'bythe spring drum 2, in fact, it is sufficiently unbalanced that thecurtain 1 will close of its own weight when the drum 2 is'r'elease'd,provided that'it be given a start downward.

The'end of the drum 2 is provided with a ratchet'wheel 17 which isengaged by a' stationary pawl 18 pivoted at 19. The foravard end of thepawl 18 extends out over a rod 20 which is pivoted at its lower end tovided at its outer end with a weight 22 and the end'of the lever 21; Thelever 21 is prois pivoted at 89 .so that when'the weight is released, itwill drop down and thrust the rod 20 upward, disengaging the pawl 18fromthe ratchet 17. The weight 22 is normally held upward by a wire28,"which is secured to a bracket 24, this wire or cable 23 having. afusible link 25 therein,which link is adapted to be destroyed by adangerous temperature. The inner end of the lever 18 is provided with acable or wire 26 for releasing the pawl 18 by hand whenit is desired toclose the shutter manually. Re-

igardless of the manner of release, that is,

whether it is manual or automatic, the elliptical spring 13 gives "theend of the curtain 'a, downward thrust sufficient to start the same, andthus allow it tocloseof its own weight. The starting spring maybe'employed to advantage in the type of'door shown in Fig. 8 so that thestarting weight maybe reduced in size. In this type of door, the drum 2isgeared to a centrifugal governor 27 so thatthe doorwill not close toorapidly and so that no damage will be type. of spring done when the doorstrikes the bottom of the door-frame. This type of door is designed toclose with maximum speed, but the starting of the door is slow due tothe fact that thespring must be strong enough to hold the shuttercounterbalance during most of the distance of drop. The door is startedby means of the bar 28 being dropped into the channel 6 automaticallywhen a given temporature is exceeded.

The bar 28 is suspended from a shaft 29 which is automaticallyreleasable by a fusible link or the like. Due to the fact that theshutter 1 is held up by the tension of the spring drum with considerableforce, the starting of the shutter is slow. When, however, the spring 18is interposed between the ends of the curtainand the sill 5, starting isaccelerated to such a degree that the Weight of the bar 28 may bereduced and the consequent inconvenience of a heavy bar may be avoided.I

In Fig. 1, I have illustrated the manner in which the spring 13 may becompletely inclosedbetween the channel 6 and a bar of angle lron whichis secured to the bottom of the top door sill 5. The releasing meansemployed in this form of a device consists of a lever 81 pivoted at 32and provlded at lts inner end with a starting or releasing weight 38 anda pawl or finger 3 1 which engages the teeth of the ratchet wheel Theend 35 of the pawl 84 is made of a brass pin so that there will be nodanger of the parts rusting together. The outer end of the lever 81 iscounter-balanced by a weight 36 which is suspended from the end of thearm by wire 37, or the like, having a fusible link 38. It can be seenthat assoon as the fusible link 38 is destroyed, the counterbalancingweight 36 is disconnected from the end of the lever 81 and the releasingweight 33 withdraws the pawl 841 from the ratchet 17 and the curtain isthen started downward by the thrust of the spring 18. The curtain, afterit is started, continues its downward movement due to the fact that theweight of the curtain, overbalances the tension of the spring drum.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a difi'erent Inanner of mounting the spring 18.In this case the sprlng 1s secured to the flange 7 on the end ofthecurtain 1 and when the curtain is up, the spring is compressed betweenthe flange of the bar 7 and a bar 40 which is mounted on the ways 11,12. It is to be understood that a plurality of springs 18 may beemployed and thatthese springs may be helioalsprings, coil springs orany suitable to suit the condition to be met.

While I have shown my invention and described the same in connectionwith the, de-

tails of. particular constructions, it is to be understood'that I do notintend to limit my Copies ofthis patent may be obtained for invention toonly the forms shown, nor to the partlcular dimensions and proportlonscompressed between said abutment and the flange on the end oftheshutter,when the shutter is rolled up. 1

2. In" combination, a rolling shutter a spring drum for said shutter,the spring ten sion of saiddrumexceeding the weight of the shutter whenthe same is rolled up,- said shutter having a flange on the end thereof,

a spring for starting said shutter, a stationary abutment at the top ofthe door opening, said spring being compressed between said abutment,and theflange when the shutter is rolled up and automatic means forreleasing said shutter to allow said spring to operate.

3. In combination, a rolling shutter, a stationary abutment near the topof said door opening, a spring drum for said shutter, said shutterhaving a flange at the end thereof and a spring secured to said flangeand engaging said abutmentwhen said shutter is rolled up, said springcomprising a curved leaf. i

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 22nd'day of Nov.A. D. 1915."

THOMAS E. ooLLiN s.

five centsieaeh, by addressing the Gommissione r of Patents,

Washington, D. G." r I a

